♦Disclaimer: I don't usually wear my heart on my sleeve. Or preach. Today, you get both.♦
Life isn't clean. It's messy. It's ugly. It's downright painful. And distressed beyond belief sometimes. But, without the pain, you'd never know the pleasure. And going through "stuff" is essential for growing. Growing up. Which, I'm finding, we all have a natural tendency to not want. Because, good heavens, that means we have to be accountable, right? Accountable to truth. That actions speak louder than words. That we can't do whatever we want without it leading to something that could be good ... or bad. That what we do, everyday, affects everyone around us and ultimately, our selves.
Even if it's not visible to others, we all live distressed lives. But this distress is normal. And it's tough. And sometimes this distress is in a form of loss, or hurting, or pain, or grief. Some of this is inflicted on us without our choice, and other times we are in complete control of inflicting it upon ourselves. Which is tragic.
Guilty as charged.
But, I have to remind myself that I'm human. And it's okay to be a disaster. We all are. And God knows this. Which is why He sent Jesus to save us ... to save us from our stupid, simple, selfish, human, and normal selves. Jesus was perfect. But, during his time on earth, he felt every human emotion, feeling and action, from joy to grief, that we go -- and have gone -- through. And this gives me hope. Because, I'm a hopeless mess.
I'd suggest reading about His life if you know nothing about this incredible human. Grab a Bible. You can find them in almost every store, including thrift stores, or grab a free app. There's like, ten thousand of them.
Read the book of Matthew. The whole thing. It's 28 chapters. It's the first book in the New Testament (there are two sections in the Bible, Old and New Testament). And Matthew is roughly fifty pages worth. If you have time to read this blog, and zillions of other time-wasting things, then you've got time to read this. You may be thinking, "If I have to hear one more thing about Jesus, I'm going to barf." Okay. Fine. Barf then. And when you're done, come back and sit down and read the book of Matthew.
You may not like any of it. You may hate it and stop reading after two sentences. Or, you may love it. But listen. I can say, without a doubt, you will NEVER read about another man like this Jesus.
If anything, you'll see distress at it's lowest and highest and thank God for your life when you're done reading. So, embrace the distress. Sometimes, even if we don't like it, it's exactly what we need.
The picture: This is a real life picture of me. I was taking pictures for my Etsy shop -- for this shirt actually -- and just went through / heard something really tough. Tough for me. The camera's self-timer was on, but I began to cry. This is rawness. And I hate this picture. With a vengeance. But, it's life. It's me. And I wanted to show you me at my lowest, because sometimes, I feel like Instagram is a snapshot of perfection.
And I'm so, so far from it.
Distressed denim, with a distressed Pendleton shirt, on a very distressed me. Life. Yet, I couldn't have coordinated this. I mean, this happened without planning. The shirt which I found that morning, with the jeans I bought the day before, and then me.
That's making good out of the bad, I guess. It created this post. And I hope that's a good thing.
Jeans: Target ◄
Shirt: Vintage distressed Pendleton ◄
Me: #justplainddistressed - I'm fine now.
But some things, events, some people, will be with you -- in your heart or mind -- forever ...
Applicable Song: Habits (Stay High), Tove Lo
Life isn't clean. It's messy. It's ugly. It's downright painful. And distressed beyond belief sometimes. But, without the pain, you'd never know the pleasure. And going through "stuff" is essential for growing. Growing up. Which, I'm finding, we all have a natural tendency to not want. Because, good heavens, that means we have to be accountable, right? Accountable to truth. That actions speak louder than words. That we can't do whatever we want without it leading to something that could be good ... or bad. That what we do, everyday, affects everyone around us and ultimately, our selves.
Even if it's not visible to others, we all live distressed lives. But this distress is normal. And it's tough. And sometimes this distress is in a form of loss, or hurting, or pain, or grief. Some of this is inflicted on us without our choice, and other times we are in complete control of inflicting it upon ourselves. Which is tragic.
Guilty as charged.
But, I have to remind myself that I'm human. And it's okay to be a disaster. We all are. And God knows this. Which is why He sent Jesus to save us ... to save us from our stupid, simple, selfish, human, and normal selves. Jesus was perfect. But, during his time on earth, he felt every human emotion, feeling and action, from joy to grief, that we go -- and have gone -- through. And this gives me hope. Because, I'm a hopeless mess.
I'd suggest reading about His life if you know nothing about this incredible human. Grab a Bible. You can find them in almost every store, including thrift stores, or grab a free app. There's like, ten thousand of them.
Read the book of Matthew. The whole thing. It's 28 chapters. It's the first book in the New Testament (there are two sections in the Bible, Old and New Testament). And Matthew is roughly fifty pages worth. If you have time to read this blog, and zillions of other time-wasting things, then you've got time to read this. You may be thinking, "If I have to hear one more thing about Jesus, I'm going to barf." Okay. Fine. Barf then. And when you're done, come back and sit down and read the book of Matthew.
You may not like any of it. You may hate it and stop reading after two sentences. Or, you may love it. But listen. I can say, without a doubt, you will NEVER read about another man like this Jesus.
If anything, you'll see distress at it's lowest and highest and thank God for your life when you're done reading. So, embrace the distress. Sometimes, even if we don't like it, it's exactly what we need.
The picture: This is a real life picture of me. I was taking pictures for my Etsy shop -- for this shirt actually -- and just went through / heard something really tough. Tough for me. The camera's self-timer was on, but I began to cry. This is rawness. And I hate this picture. With a vengeance. But, it's life. It's me. And I wanted to show you me at my lowest, because sometimes, I feel like Instagram is a snapshot of perfection.
And I'm so, so far from it.
Distressed denim, with a distressed Pendleton shirt, on a very distressed me. Life. Yet, I couldn't have coordinated this. I mean, this happened without planning. The shirt which I found that morning, with the jeans I bought the day before, and then me.
That's making good out of the bad, I guess. It created this post. And I hope that's a good thing.
Jeans: Target ◄
Shirt: Vintage distressed Pendleton ◄
Me: #justplainddistressed - I'm fine now.
But some things, events, some people, will be with you -- in your heart or mind -- forever ...
Applicable Song: Habits (Stay High), Tove Lo
So needed this today. Cried through it. So grateful for your candor and honesty and your gift of putting it so beautifully into words...
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